mindless socks?

So, these were supposed to be simple mindless socks. For the most part they were, sort of? I started off with 72 stitches at the top of the cuff, but kept doing decreases as I knit the cuff, which kinda messed up the goal of these being super simple mindless socks for knitting in the dark on a car ride. The decreases really do help the sock actually fit my leg though, and since I have small ankles I decreased down to only 56 stitches right before the heel. I did a long heel flap, picking up 28 stitches on each side, and then decreased down to 60 stitches for the foot of the sock. I think this heel flap is actually too long for me, though not by much. The finished socks are also too long for me as well, so I’m hoping everything will be in good proportions for someone’s foot.

fireworks socks

I started these socks on July 4th, when going to watch the fireworks. I needed a mindless project that I could do in the dark, and hence these socks. The yarn was in my stash, without a label-I think its an 80/20 merino silk blend, but I’m not quite sure.

Nymph on a bender

I happened across this yarn at the Portsmouth NH Market Square Day. My first temptation was that there was sock yarn at all, but then I started reading the names of the colorways, and I decided I needed this ‘Nymph on a bender’ colored yarn. The dyer is Birch Dyeworks, a New Hampshire based dyer. I like the yarn a lot, and I think it worked really well as a good pair of straightforward socks.

In the background you can glimpse some of my spinning projects that I’m currently working on!

purple tweed

This yarn is Less Traveled Yarn’s Donegal Tweed fabric with the characteristic small pieces of yarn in different colors. This colorway is called Midnight, and it’s 85% superwash Merino wool, 15% Donegal Nep. It’s the same pattern as the last pair, but a bit bigger. This yarn would have done fine with a pattern, but it had been passed over before because some bugs had gotten into it, so it was in lots of small balls. I think all the bugs have since died, as there were no new breaks, but some of my stash will have to go through a few rounds in the freezer to make sure…

This is pair # 31 for 2019, and 591 overall!

Watermelon socks, and knitting at work

I needed some mindless knitting for my travels, so I pulled this yarn out of the stash. I’d made a pair of socks from this yarn before, so I knew it would be too busy for any pattern to show up. It’s a knitpicks handpainted stroll yarn in the watermelon colorway. This is just my standard sock pattern.

I would have gotten way more knitting done last week, only I’ve been told not to knit at conferences. I used to knit through all my classes in undergrad and grad school, but the current job sees knitting in a negative light. I’ve been told that I’m unapproachable when I’m knitting, and that people take it as a sign of disrespect. I was also asked if I really wanted to be known as the person who knits, implying there are some negative connotations going on with knitting. Because of this I have been instructed not to knit where people can see me at work (i.e. meetings/talks outside my small group (my group being forced to make allowances for me), which includes conferences). Since I really like keeping my hands busy, this makes meetings and talks way less fun to attend, and I feel less good about how I’ve spent my time when I do go, since there’s always the thought that I could have been more productive doing something else instead. When I can knit through those meetings I’m able to console myself that, if nothing else, I at least made progress on my current sock. I see this knitting restriction as one of the serious downsides of this job, though I am still allowed to knit at my desk and while doing experimental testing, at least.

MSW socks #3

swatch, again with 8 sts per inch

Third pair is now off the needles, and boy is this yarn so much softer. My swatch is still at about the same 8 stitches per inch (not that my swatch gauge matches my sock knitting gauge, which seems to be slightly looser?, but this way I’ll at least have a sample to keep), but this yarn is slightly finer than the previous two, and so much softer. We will have to see how it wears over time though-I’m hoping the bunny ply is fine enough and tightly spun enough that it won’t just shed out or felt the sock down several sizes. I did notice small, short bunny fibers flying around as I knit (causing me to sneeze quite a bit-I guess I’m just super fussy about breathing in fine fibers), but hopefully that’s an anomaly.

For this pair, I used 96.2 grams for the socks and the swatch together, compared to 107.1 and 106.6 g for pairs 1 and 2, respectively. I also added two more rows to the cuff, and 3 more to the foot of the sock, since otherwise I was worried the socks would be much smaller.

I used the eye of partridge stitch on the heel, with a standard toe, which is a slightly different combo than on pairs 1 and 2. The yarn itself also looks different-the bunny has a distinctive look and is super white.

In other news, Mommy finished her pair from the first yarn! This is the unbalanced yarn that’s somewhat harsh. I had decided to to a spiral toe on my socks, since the swatch had a tendency to lean, but Mum did a standard toe. She says that it doesn’t quite lay flat off the foot, but that once it’s on a foot it behaves nicely. She’s a tight knitter, so her pair of socks ended up with a much denser fabric, though se actually used slightly fewer grams of yarn than I did.

MSW socks #2

Second pair is done! This yarn is z spun Perendale, Border Leicester and Polwarth, plied S. It might be a bit thicker than sock yarn #1, even though two of the singles were exactly the same. I used 107.1 g for the first pair of socks and my swatch, and 106.6 g for the same from the second yarn, using the same number of stitches for the socks, so the weight per yard must be similar. I think this yarn takes up more space though since it doesn’t have the one s spun ply. My swatch is 8 stitches per inch again.

My mom plans to wear these socks in mixed pairs, to compare how quickly they wear, so I used the same number of stitches on these as on the first pair. I did do a different toe (my standard) and a slightly different stitch on the heel flap, so that should help her identify which is which. I didn’t have to worry about this yarn twisting, like I did with sock yarn #1, so I could use my standard heel.

These socks are so much softer than pair #1, however they still aren’t really next-to-face soft. The yarn was much nicer to knit with though, and it still has some bounce to it, though nowhere near as much stretch as yarn #1 did. I think they’ll stand up well.

MSW socks #1

I finished the first pair! To recap, the yarn is a three ply hand spun ‘illegal’ (mix of Z and S spun yarns, plied S) yarn that my mum and I made from fiber bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I actually knitted a swatch! The gauge I got was 8 stitches per inch (Mommy got 9), as it’s a bit heavier of a sock yarn. In order to have the yarn tightly plied enough, we had to overplay this yarn, so it is far from balanced and really likes twisting up on itself. Because of that my swatch is less of a rectangle… the yarn is also fairly scratchy, and my pointer finger on my left hand, where I hold and tension the yarn, didn’t really like this yarn.

Mum’s swatch doesn’t lean as much as mine, most likely because she had a much wider border at the sides. She also did a seed stitch border, while I used a garter border. Mine is also fuzzier, and we’re not sure if that’s a difference in the yarn, or if that’s because I am a much looser knitter than my mom.

Amy’s swatch-stockinette with garter border

Amy’s swatch-stockinette with garter border

Mum’s swatch-stockinette with seed stitch border

I made the socks with fewer stitches than normal, but otherwise these were fairly straightforward socks. The ribbing in the cuff prevents the fabric from skewing in the same way that the swatch did, so I continued the ribbing down the foot. I also used a spiral toe instead of my standard toe, because I was worried that the standard toe would try to rotate, and so I went with a toe decrease where a rotation wouldn’t matter.

The socks aren’t soft enough to wear next to my face, but I don’t notice them as being scratchy when they’re on my feet. Mum is really happy with them!

House pride socks

I saw this yarn from Bad Wolf Girl Studios, and I really wanted to see how it would knit up, so here we are. The color is ‘House Pride’-it has all the house colors from Harry Potter, and I got it at a Harry Potter themed knit night at my local yarn store! I’m really happy with how the yarn pooled, and the yarn is really soft and nice to work with.

Vocabulary diamonds

The yarn for these socks is from Vocabulary Yarns, and it’s a bluefaced leicester/nylon sock yarn, which was really nice to work with, and it pooled really well! I’ve been enjoying playing with some textures, and these socks have some small little diamonds.

Bluefaced Leicester is a long wool, so it’s a bit coarser, which should improve the durability of the socks. It also has a lovely luster to it, and shines a bit like silk does. Here’s a picture of some bluefaced Leicesters from the Maryland sheep and wool festival!